Assorted Ancients now on display.

 Following on from the previous post, here are closeups of the second new shelf.  The shelves are inside a pine wardrobe built into a chimney alcove, long since unfit for purpose but I'm averse to ripping out period features so it now houses toy soldiers and the original doors provide some protection from the dust.

In the background are a group of  Neanderthals made in France by Starlux.  

In front of them are hoplites made in Greece by PAL and later versions made by Athena (Aohna), the easiest way to tell them apart is the earlier PAL figures have a flat square base with no markings underneath while the Athena ones have a sculptured base marked Aohna underneath, the PAL versions also have metal pins attaching their arms.  

In the left foreground are Greeks/Romans made in Italy by Tibidabo (green bases) and to their right are two made in France by Clairet (tan bases)

In the centre, various Roman signifiers by Atlantic, REAMSA, Marx and Elastolin, in front of them are three large rubber figures made in Italy by Xiloplasto.

The large colourful figure in the sentre is one of the Louis Marx Ancient Chinese Warriors.  The large blue Romans beside him are reissues made in Spain by Oliver. 

The two Samurai at rear left were made in Poland by PZG (the Polish Association of the Deaf), in front of them are Ancient Egyptians made in Spain by Jecsan, with more Samurai to the forefront, these ones made in Italy by Res Plastics for Kinder eggs.

A better view of the Res Plastics Samurai, I started picking these up with the intention of creating a wargames army with them but the fiddly parts and loose weapons made them impractical for this, so they are now consigned to the shelf and my Samurai armies are now made up from Technolog, Furuta, gashapon and various kit figures.

In the centre the unpainted Roman and Tribune in red cloak were sculpted by Peter Evans and cast in Resin by Peter Cole (before he set up his company Replicants to make figures in plastic), the idea was that they would make additional poses to go with the Louis Marx Ben Hur playset which had just been reissued from the original moulds by a company in Mexico.  

To their right are two coffee premiums made in Belgium by Cafe Storme.

The four Carolingians marching in the foreground are 45mm solid lead figures made in Germany by Heyde.

The large mounted Roman on the left was originally made France in hollowcast lead by JSF (Jouets Standard Francais), this is a plastic version made form the original mould.  On th right next to him is another mounted Roman, made in Hong Kong it is a copy of a Crescent foot figure on a copy of a Herald horse.

This is the set of four made by Res Plastics for Kinder eggs, they are often described as being Samurai but I am advised (by someone to knows vastly more than I do about ancient armour) that they are in fact Ancient Chinese (they still look like Samurai to me, what do you think?)

Britains American War of Independance Swoppets.

 This past year I embarked upon a review of how I store and display the unruly mass of toy soldiers accumulated in a largely haphazard way over the past six plus decades.  

Everything is being separated out between collectables and figures for wargaming, the former to stand safely on a shelf gathering dust and looking pretty, the latter boxed securely in their units and ranks ready to be deployed on the tabletop at a moments notice.

I started picking up Britains and Timpo American War of Independence Swoppets with the intention of using them for wargaming, back then they were the only figures available for the period, but they were hard to find and by the time I'd acquire enough they were getting too brittle and delicate for the amount of handling involved.  I aught to let them all go but I don't feel quite ready for that yet.

The building in the background is the tinplate "Revolutionary War Tavern" made in America by Louis Marx, the mounted figure of George Washington to the front left of it is an old composition piece made by Elastolin.

In amongst the Britains and Timpo Swoppet AWI are a smattering of figures from other manufacturers such as: Shell Liberty Men of '76, Louis Marx Warriors of the World, A Call to Arms, Res Plastics for Kinder Eggs, Awesome Toys, Casualties of War, Airfix, and a couple of white metal models.

The building shown here is the Louis Marx tinplate "Civil War Mansion" from their "Battle of the Blue and Gray" playset.

Native American allies are provided by Mohicans from Britains Herald range and Charbens.

 These figures have all spent far too long languishing in boxes so it was nice to get them out and put on display where I can appreciate them a bit more.

Travel Battle - A Napoleonic wargame with 54mm toy soldiers

 Travel Battle is a boardgame designed by Michael Perry and produced by Perry Miniatures, the well known wargame figure manufacturers, it's based on battles in the Napoleonic period so Anthony and I thought we'd see how well the system translated to a tabletop wargame with 54mm toy soldiers.  Here's how it went:

As usual we started with a very simple game, without may terrain features, to test out the mechanisms of the system.  The boardgame has preformed terrain and uses a square grid for movement, we opted to use a hex grid (because that's all I've got and I prefer it!) 

Each side comprises 3 Brigades, each commanded by a mounted Brigadier and made up from any combination of the units available, which are; 2 x Heavy Cav. 2 x Light Cav. 2 x Artillery. 2 x Guard Inf and 6 x Line inf.  Either or both of the Artillery units may be attached to a Cavalry Brigade and designated as Horse Artillery, which has greater movement distance but less firing range and effect than the Foot Artillery.

The rules are simple, minimal and there is no record keeping, just how we like them but may be a bit too simplistic for some.  Players dice to see who goes first and can activate all their units, the sequence of play is: Move, Fire Artillery, Melee, Retreat any defeated units.  Then the second player repeats the sequence with their units.

Foot units (Guards, Line inf. and Foot Artillery) move 1 hex while mounted (Brigadier, Horse Artillery, Heavy and Light Cav.) move 2 hex in each turn.  All units can move in any direction and terrain modifiers apply. 

Firing is restricted to the Artillery who can move or fire but not both.  Effect is determined by D6 score: 1,2,3 no effect, 4 target falls back 1 hex, 5 target retreats back to table edge or 6 target destroyed.

Combat occurs when opposing units move into touch, in such case Artillery cannot fire but fight as an infantry unit.  Combat is decided by dice throw, with Heavy Cav. and Guard Inf getting a bonus.  Both players dice, highest score wins and outcome is determined by score differential: 1 losing unit falls back 1 hex, 2 unit retreats back to table edge or 3 unit destroyed. 

Command and Control is an interesting feature of the system, every unit in a Brigade (including the Brigadier) must be touching at least one other unit from the same Brigade, any that are not in touch with the Brigadier through the line of units cannot move but can fight if attacked (and Artillery can still fire).  So if a unit in the centre of a line is destroyed the line is broken and units beyond the break are no longer under command.  There are modifiers for the effects of moving into square to protect infantry against cavalry but make them devastatingly vulnerable to artillery fire.

The figures we used were mostly Britains Deetail with a few DSG toys soldiers from Argentina.  The Brigadiers on both sides are Del Prado Napoleonic personalities, beautifully modelled and their larger size giving a commanding presence on the table top. 

Overall I found it very easy to pick up and the action moves fluidly, the system would work very well for large battles and we could easily have controlled twice the number of units or Brigades, it would be ideal for multi player games.  With little modification it would also translate well to cover European battles of the Seven Years War. 

I particularly liked the Brigade structure and control system but not so much the Combat where the outcomes are either fall back, rout or be destroyed, there are no casualties depleting unit as you get in say Lionheart or One Hour Wargames, so it's good but it ain't no game of toy soldiers!

Woking Games Day 2025

 Last Saturday a small band of the faithful from the Little Wars Revisited group assembled in Woking for this years Games Day.  The event was hosted by Mike who offered us three games using 54mm toy soldiers including Waddington's Battle of the Little Big Horn (seen on this blog previously).  I took part in a Battle Masters Lord of the Rings game and here's how it went:

Anthony provided all the figures and umpired the game, this is the starting position with the forces of Middle Earth on the left and the Hordes of Mordor on the right.

The forces of Mordor included this rather fine Ogre, I don't know who he's made by but he certainly looks the part.

The figures used are mostly Britains Deetail knights with minimal repainting and relevant heraldry to distinguish either side, I was very taken with the quality of the basing.

The dark forces included Orcs and Uruk-hai from Britains recent metal LOTR range.

This rather nicely designed terrain matt comes with the original MB Battle Masters boardgame.  The firing system for the trebuchet on the left was fun if a little erratic. but very effective when it hit home.

The Mordor cavalry, Britains Deetail Saracens looking suitably sinister in red and black.

The Ogre is slow to get going but unstoppable once he starts, he gave my horsemen a real pasting!

Audience participation was less than hoped for.

Regular players Patrick and his son William brought along their collection of Anglo-Norman figures for the 1135-53 Civil War between King Stephen and Empress Matilda

The game was a Norman skirmish using the Song of Blades and Heroes rules, the figures are 54mm metal made Irregular Miniatures and you can see more of them on Patrick's website here:  Patricks Wargames

New Blog in Town!

 Veteran wargamer, toy soldier collector and all round good chap, my friend Graham Apperley has started a blog, Tales from the Toy Room, and there is a link to it in the column on the right.  Please take a look, you'll like what you'll see.

Also added to the bloglist today is Little Wars 1913 run by another friend, Mike Lewis, this blog has been around for more than a decade but I only discovered it yesterday so here is the link.  Enjoy!